


Sunlight

by Elmmiy



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Romance, and cute, and short, donghyuck's dying inside too but this isn't in his pov, i know nothing about photography, it's just mark dying tbh, mark says a lot of um and uh and er, poor kid's just not so good at talking, this is really simple
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-29
Updated: 2018-09-29
Packaged: 2019-07-18 22:14:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16127825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elmmiy/pseuds/Elmmiy
Summary: Mark has a thing for the sunset. Something in the way that the sunrays make everything colorful touches him. On a particular day that he went to photograph the usual landscape, the sun itself graced him with its presence in human form.Or, Mark can`t decide if he`s a photographer or a poet. In the end, he would probably make both a Photoshoot and an Ode to Donghyuck.





	Sunlight

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this on a night I should be doing an essay, but I live in a constant state of procrastination, so yay. Anyway, this is my first fanfic and pretty much the only thing I wrote until the end, so I`m counting this as a personal win even if it flops. But I would appreciate a lot if it didn`t.
> 
> Thanks to Lary who hyped me up about this.
> 
> COMMENTS ARE REALLY MUCH APPRECIATED <3

Mark could be described as the happiest kid in the world. He had a great family and great friends, his grades were amazing and the teachers loved him. He had an ability to brighten everyone’s mood and the only moment you would not see a smile on his face was when he was watching the sunset. In that particular moment, he seemed to be in total peace, his eyes admiring the way the sunrays made the clouds colorful, the pink, purple, yellow and orange mixing in the blue sky. It was as if the sun didn`t get satisfied by shining on his own, it had to take out the best in everything around too. In that moment, Mark felt like he belonged to something bigger, it was when he believed in fate, magic and happy endings. 

But then, he moved to Korea and everything got messed up. 

Mark’s parents were always at work and Taeil, his older brother, was too busy studying, trying to catch up with the educational system. Besides, he didn’t speak Korean very well, so he couldn’t make friends nor get good grades in his tests. Mark truly hated that place. He didn’t recognize or feel attachment to anything around. He just didn’t belong there. So, he did the only rational thing he could think of: run away. When he got to a park, seven blocks away from his house, the ten years old kid thought that that was enough for a run away. He took a deep breath in and looked up. And then, he saw it. 

The same sunset. The same colorful piece of art. 

It was the first time he felt in home. 

Everything around that sun was where it was supposed to be. 

When Mark had to pick a subject for his portfolio in photography class, he didn`t have to think twice. He went to that same park that now, almost a decade later, had become his safe place. He got there a couple hours before the necessary because he liked to be prepared to any possible surprises, like a tire flat. That didn’t happened though, so he killed the extra time watching Yukhei and Renjun bickering in their group chat, with a small cabin serving him as a shelter from the still-too-hot sun, until it was time to get his photography set ready. When he saw the orange lights in the horizon, he moved away from the cabin and climbed up the small hill to get a better spot. 

Mark never felt as if the photos were fair to the real view, what actually made him feel a little disappointed sometimes, but he couldn’t stop himself from doing it because he still loved it, even then. He blamed that on Johnny and his contagious love for photography. After taking a deep breath, he raised the camera to his face and saw the world behind the lenses. He just loved it. The clicks from the camera were almost inaudible due to the strong wind. 

As the minutes passed, the view got better and better. He captured the way that the sunlight was hitting the clouds and the trees, the buildings and the flocks of birds flying up in the sky, the tiny river that ran next to there and that very far away bridge. It really took out the best in everything around. 

And then Mark captured the sunlight shining on a boy. 

After realizing that that was a real person, and not just a perfect piece of the landscape, he took his camera away and looked directly at him. _The photos really are never fair to the real view_ , he thought. The boy was in a lower spot, not too far away from him. He had a camera very similar to Mark’s in his hand and his face looked a little bit annoyed as he glanced up to the sky. Some part of Mark’s brain knew that the sunlight was hitting the boy, but it was getting harder and harder to believe that it wasn’t coming _from_ him. 

Mark was brought back from his trance when a thunder growled above his head. He looked up and saw a big, dark cloud approaching. It happened really fast. In one second, he was admiring the shining sun – or the shining boy, he wasn’t sure yet – and in the other, he felt a drop in his cheek. The show was pretty much over by then. 

– Shit. – he said. 

– YES! – he heard someone screaming. Not just someone. Shining boy. 

When Mark looked at his direction, he saw what might be a smile in his face, but he couldn’t be sure because he was a little bit too distant to that. The kid put the camera in his face and started taking pictures of the rain. 

– One cries, one smiles, I guess. – Mark said to himself as he began to go back to the cabin. 

So. 

Mark could go home, since he didn’t have anything to do there anymore, but in his defense, he didn’t have anything to do at home either. In his defense, he didn’t _really_ appreciated driving in the rain. In his defense, that bench was more comfortable than it looked like, who’d have guessed? So, he just sat down and started to check the photos on his camera. Every now and then, he would look at the boy jumping cutely and excitedly whenever he took a picture of a leave or a slop and felt satisfied. 

It was amusing that he was still shining, just as beautiful as before, even if there wasn’t sun anymore. 

A lighting made the sky bright again for a second and brought a very loud thunder with it. Mark’s eyes flicked from the sky to the boy, worried. The latter put the camera down and, with a hand over his eyes, started looking around until he saw a particular small cabin. Mark felt self-conscious as soon as the boy started walking towards him, so he hurried into pretending that he was solely checking the photos on his camera. 

He heard the boy approaching, but kept his eyes down, totally concentrated in the pictures. Such a professional future photographer. 

– Oh. – the kid said, making Mark look up to him. He seemed to be around Mark’s age, maybe 17 or 18. He looked surprised to see someone there. – Hm, hi. 

Mark started to develop a theory: all this time, it wasn’t the sun who brighten the world, it was that small smile right there. 

– Uh, hello. – his answer came out lower than he intended to. 

– Do you mind if I sit? 

– Er, no. – he said making room in the bench. – Make yourself comfortable. 

– Thank you. 

After a couple seconds of silence, Mark decided to make small talk so he didn’t feel so awkward. 

– Um… Pretty unexpected, right? The rain, I mean. 

The boy let out a small chuckle. 

– Not actually. I checked the weather forecast before coming and it had a very high chance of raining. That’s why I came. You know, – he said shaking his camera. – I’m making a project in photography class about the rain. 

As a proof that the weather wasn’t really a surprise to him, the boy took out a towel from his backpack. He handed another one to Mark. 

– Thanks. – Mark said taking it. – Hm, as you can see I didn’t check the weather forecast. – he pointed to his own soaked clothes, what made the boy chuckle again. – So, uh, yeah, I was expecting to take pictures of the sunset. Photography class too. 

The boy finished drying his hair and let the towel around his shoulders. 

– Oh, so didn’t you get any pictures? 

– No, I actually got some. – he said handing his camera to him. As Mark would realize later, that wasn’t very smart, because, after all, there was a picture of the boy there and, even if he took it unintentionally, it would still be weird to explain. 

Thankfully, he stopped slipping through the pictures before he could get to that one. 

– Wow, they look great. You’re really, really good. – he said honestly. 

Mark knew he was good, he started taking pictures when he was 12 and he had Johnny teaching him since then. He knew it, but that didn’t stop his cheeks from getting a little pink. 

– I’m actually new at this. – the boy continued, still looking at Mark’s pictures. – I picked photography because it sounded like an easy A. Ha. Joke’s on me, I almost failed the theory exams. I’m liking it, though. And the practical part is really being very funny and all. Even if Jaemin and Chenle – they’re my two best friends – make me take pictures of them all the time. They’re abusing my kindness, really. But yeah, it’s funny, I don’t know if I’m doing it well, but it’s funny. 

Mark got startled by the sudden oversharing, but he found it cute. He realized with a little bit of panic, that he would find cute pretty much anything that that boy did. 

– You know, uh… – he said. – I could see your pictures to, maybe, give you some tips? If you need? 

– Oh, that’d be great! Here. – he said handing his camera to Mark. 

As he passed through the photos, Mark got surprised by how beautiful they looked, not totally perfect, but really beautiful. The boy was looking at him expectantly. He couldn’t raise his eyes. 

– You know, I used to suck in the theory part in the beginning too. – he said, still looking at the photos. – But I also used to suck in the practical part. You’re already great at that, are you sure you just started? These look really awesome. 

– Really??? 

– Yeah, you have a great style. – he said taking a glance to the boy really quick, before shyly looking away. He handed back the camera. – Um, there’s some points you can work on, but you doing pretty well. 

– For real? – the boy looked at his own photos again. 

– Yeah. 

They stayed in silence for some seconds. 

– You’re gonna have to text me those tips, really. – the boy said, his cheeks getting slightly blushed. – I want to freak out my teacher with A+ quality photos. 

The “text me” thing was kind of subtle, but it was still there and it didn’t go unnoticed by Mark’s face that turned red really quickly. 

He cleared his throat. 

– I’m… I’m Mark, by the way. 

– Oh, right. – the boy offered his hand and Mark shook it. – I’m Donghyuck, but my friends call me Haechan. 

_Fullsun_. A spontaneous smile grow in Mark’s lips. 

– What? – Donghyuck asked. 

– Uhh, nothing. – Mark said trying to contain his smile, with no success. – It’s just that… It really, really fits you. 

Donghyuck’s slightly blushed cheeks turned totally red and the surprised look gave place to a happy, flattered laugh, a big smile spreading on his face. Everything around suddenly seemed prettier. Just as when the sun shines, Donghyuck also took out the best in everything around. 

_So, that’s why_ , Mark realized. 

Donghyuck didn’t need the sun in order to shine, because he was the sun himself. 

In that moment, Mark felt like he belonged to something bigger, he could believe in fate, magic and happing endings. 

He was just where he was supposed to be. 


End file.
